Earlier, some friends were describing a recent encounter with a total redneck stereotype. Basically a situation where the house fit the part of the white trash household: tacky christmas trees, empty cigarette packs on the coffee table, tv blaring, ashtray overflowing, couple cases of beer near the chair, and toothless fellar seemingly content to be ignorant. And even though my friends were only in the house for five minutes, they left smelling of alcohol and cigarettes. I couldn't help thinking that visual image is why I had to escape Oklahoma.
My mom did a good job keeping our individual family above that level of existence. However, everywhere I went, every friend I made (almost), lived that way. As I got older and made more friends, I discovered that more and more people had lifestyles like that. It was so disappointing to find that my home life, far from ideal, seemed to be the tip of the iceberg. While my dad's house did a good job with the whole loving and caring department, it had its own stereotyping issues including the cigarette smoke lingering on everything (due to about 3-4 smokers in the house-windows closed-at a time). Also, I'd visit friends and family and find the six-pack next to the recliner or hear the constant "Hey, bring me a beer" yells to the kitchen between screams at the kids to shut up.
Oklahoma's stifling presence made it impossible to for me to stay, to raise a family that would be barely be able to pull above the surface and would always be treading water among everyone else. My friends commented on how the stereotypes they met were a totally different world and so different/unimaginable to them, and here I can't help realizing how close to home, how vivid and fresh that reality is to me. And how fast and hard I am still running from it.